Wednesday 26 February 2014

ARE WE THERE YET?

 “Mobile is the future”
“The future of computing is in mobile”
“Enterprise mobility is the way to go”
 
If you haven’t heard or read any of these sentences in the last few years then you probably have been vacationing away on Pluto. This is because, every tech convention you go to, every industry insider that you interact with or every business leader that you listen to; this is a common theme that is echoed in their talks. That would give one an idea that mobility as a concept would have already taken off in India and enterprises are jumping the gun in order to implement their mobile strategies. The facts unfortunately state otherwise.
They cite a variety of reasons for their hesitation
• Unsure about the cost of the solution
• Unsure about the technology
• Unsure about where to start
• General problems
Let me elaborate these problems further
 
“Unsure about the technology”
Though it might seem like an eternity, the smart phones, as we know them, have been around for less than a decade (the first iPhone was released in 2007,the first Android phone was released in 2008, Blackberry a relative early starter - but now nearing its extinction - was released in 1999). So there is limited understanding about the underlying technology behind these devices.
 
“Unsure about where to start”
Modern Smartphones are presumably powerful devices that they can perform diverse functions. From scanning barcodes, to capturing location-based data, there are very few tasks that can’t be performed using a Smartphone. This poses a different kind of challenge for the IT decision makers. They don’t know what would be an appropriate part of their process that could be automated using mobile phones. They are always on the lookout for that safe bet which would guarantee them success at least in terms of implementation. But, these safe bets are not always the testimonials for justifying the power of a mobile based solution. They offer only slight or no benefit over the existing processes. Such lack of clarity is preventing them from making big bets on a mobile solution.
 
“Unsure about the cost of the solution”
Like I said before, Smartphones are a relatively new phenomena. To top that, enterprise mobility is newer. So there is a lack of understanding about the cost of implementing a mobile-based solution. While the IT department would only consider the actual cost of developing the solution, the finance guys have other things to worry about. The cost of procuring devices adds to the overall cost of the solution and this moves up from being a hindrance to a nightmare for them.
 
General Problems
These are the problems faced by everyday users like you and me with our smartphone devices. Issues like network connectivity, net speed, battery life are a growing list, which keeps going on. At a personal level we can afford to overlook these problems or find ways around them. But when similar devices are used as a part of an enterprise solution, then this presents a lot of problems. Imagine a sales guy spending 8 hours on the field every day and using the company-owned cell phone to update his CRM on the move. What does he do when his battery drains out? What can he do when there is no connectivity and an order has to be placed? These are some obvious hindrances that are coming in the way of mobile being accepted as a trusted solution.
These are some of the problems that I have encountered in my professional dealings with the people I talk to on a daily basis. But, there is nothing at present concrete enough to tackle these issues. With a little education and understanding of the mobile technology, it can really become the next level of solution that everyone expects them to be.
At Frozen Digit we help companies to understand the exact value they would derive from a mobile app solution. We consult, formulate mobility strategy and implement a solution.
We carried out mobile branding exercise for one of India’s leading fortune 500 automobile companies. We designed and developed mobile games around a specific automobile model and distributed these games to the target audience. This exercise helped the company to position its vehicle as sturdy, fuel efficient and powerful machine and added to the brand recall.
 
For more information please visit www.frozendigit.com or email at v.borkar@direction.biz.

Vishal Borkar, Mobility Sales at Frozen Digit.
A company acquired by Direction expanding its operations in Mobile domain.www.frozendigit.com


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